Crisis in the Swat Valley of Pakistan: need for international action

Abstract

Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, where the Swat Valley is located, has been excluded from the rest of Pakistan's society for a long time. The population has had no or very little access to economic, judiciary, and social development, let alone a democratic way of thinking. What is being dealt with is a long-term disenfranchisement problem.With people living under such conditions, this new crisis has sent things from bad to worse. Since May 2, the number of people displaced by fighting between government forces and Taliban insurgents in the Swat Valley and its neighbouring districts of Dir and Buner has risen to more than 2·5 million—a rate of about 85 000 people fleeing per day. This internal displacement crisis represents the fastest movement of such a massive number of people since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. An overwhelming majority of the displaced are children.The UN has warned of a long-term humanitarian crisis among this internally displaced population and has called for massive aid for refugees. On May 22, it appealed for more than US$500 million, of which less than $88 million has thus far been committed.1UNHCR appeals for new funds for more than 1·7 million displaced Pakistanis.http://www.unhcr.org/4a16b5eb6.htmlGoogle Scholar Apart from basic services, further assistance will be required to provide education and counselling to the children housed in the camps, of which 60–70% are traumatised, and for repatriation and reconstruction programmes. Most of the internally displaced people are not being housed in camps but by host families whose meagre resources are now being strained to the limit. The already decrepit social, civic, and health-care infrastructure cannot sustain this burden for too long and will collapse. The fear is that once international aid money is exhausted, the right-wing religious elements in Pakistan will once again move in to provide much needed aid, resulting in their gaining popularity among the affected.It is incumbent upon the world to step up and provide immediate humanitarian aid to the internally displaced people of the Swat Valley.I declare that I have no conflicts of interest. Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, where the Swat Valley is located, has been excluded from the rest of Pakistan's society for a long time. The population has had no or very little access to economic, judiciary, and social development, let alone a democratic way of thinking. What is being dealt with is a long-term disenfranchisement problem. With people living under such conditions, this new crisis has sent things from bad to worse. Since May 2, the number of people displaced by fighting between government forces and Taliban insurgents in the Swat Valley and its neighbouring districts of Dir and Buner has risen to more than 2·5 million—a rate of about 85 000 people fleeing per day. This internal displacement crisis represents the fastest movement of such a massive number of people since the Rwandan genocide of 1994. An overwhelming majority of the displaced are children. The UN has warned of a long-term humanitarian crisis among this internally displaced population and has called for massive aid for refugees. On May 22, it appealed for more than US$500 million, of which less than $88 million has thus far been committed.1UNHCR appeals for new funds for more than 1·7 million displaced Pakistanis.http://www.unhcr.org/4a16b5eb6.htmlGoogle Scholar Apart from basic services, further assistance will be required to provide education and counselling to the children housed in the camps, of which 60–70% are traumatised, and for repatriation and reconstruction programmes. Most of the internally displaced people are not being housed in camps but by host families whose meagre resources are now being strained to the limit. The already decrepit social, civic, and health-care infrastructure cannot sustain this burden for too long and will collapse. The fear is that once international aid money is exhausted, the right-wing religious elements in Pakistan will once again move in to provide much needed aid, resulting in their gaining popularity among the affected. It is incumbent upon the world to step up and provide immediate humanitarian aid to the internally displaced people of the Swat Valley. I declare that I have no conflicts of interest.